The Orrington trash incinerator is at least 15 months away from reopening.

Construction at Eagle Point Energy Center will take another 15 to 18 months, Project Manager Roy Donnelly said at a Penobscot County Commission meeting Tuesday. The plan is to start accepting trash between September and November 2026, he said.

The plant was shuttered in 2023 after longtime owner Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. was foreclosed on.

The timeline shared Tuesday is the latest update on the incinerator’s future, and is more than a year and a half later than the facility’s newest owners had proposed reopening when they purchased it last year.

EPEC first bought the plant in February 2024 and Orrington is a co-owner of the plant. The new owners floated the possibility of opening as soon as early 2025 before a 10-day fire ripped through the facility in October.

Even after the fire, the owner still discussed reopening in 2025.

Evan Coleman, a representative of EPEC, declined to comment.

Eight people are currently on the plant’s payroll and that number will increase as the plant starts accepting trash, Donnelly said.